Ewido Users Shafted by AVG

I first used ewido anti-spyware in 2004 and liked it so much that by the end of that year I had five licenses to ensure all my machines were covered.

In April, 2006 Grisoft, the maker of the AVG Anti-Virus, announced the acquisition of Ewido Networks and the following announcement went up on the ewido site.

ewido anti-spyware 4.0 will now continue under the new product name AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5. AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5 contains the same ewido technology, but with some further enhanced features:

• Highly improved cleaning
• Lower resource usage
• Additional languages supported

All current licenses for ewido anti-spyware 4.0 will continue to be valid, and users can change over to the new AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5 for free.

By this time, I had a lifetime license so was not concerned about this change in ownership. Also, by this time I was not using the product for malware protection. I really liked the service monitor, network sniffing, advanced Windows settings, and - most used - the file shredder. None of these required web updates so what Grisoft eventually did would not matter to me. Was I ever naive!

Then, the nag screens started. On start-up, I was being sent from my desktop to an AVG page telling me that, "ewido anti-spyware 4.0 has been replaced by AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5 and isn't available for sale and download anymore (under the old name). Instead, please try our new, highly improved version: AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5"

AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5 still contained the tools I wanted, so I changed over to AVG. The licenses were transferred so all seemed well.

In May 2008, my licensed products suddenly flipped over to the free version. On asking Grisoft what was happening, I was informed that my ewido licenses were no longer accepted. So much for their 2006 assurances! I was, however, informed that I could continue to use the free version as long as I liked.

On 31st December, 2008, Grisoft discontinued AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5.

Legal message from Grisoft:

we regret to inform you, that the Ewido/ AVG Anti-Spyware free products will not be supported past 31.12.2008. Therefore the licenses granted to you by the End User License Agreement ("EULA") accompanying the Ewido/ AVG Anti-Spyware products will be terminated in accordance with clause 3. a) 2 of the EULA on the date of 31.12.2008.

As a consequence, you will not be able to use the Ewido/ AVG Anti-Spyware products any longer.

Grisoft, to date, have not responded to my requests for a copy of the original EULA, which is the one I agreed to when I installed the application. They have also failed to respond to enquiries about why they cancelled licenses they previously said they would honour.

If I wasn't already a proponent of open source software, I sure would be now!

Were you affected by these changes?

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